"Hoo…"
The wind brushed lightly across his body.
To avoid disturbing Mikoto, Yagami deliberately slowed his flight speed.
Because of that, Mikoto, who was resting quietly in his arms, seemed even more relaxed and at ease.
A moment later, Yagami suddenly noticed that her breathing had become soft and even.
He lowered his gaze and found that she had fallen asleep against his chest, a peaceful expression on her face.
After staying awake the entire night, she had finally relaxed enough to drift off without realizing it.
Yagami shook his head with a faint smile and continued flying toward his home at a steady pace.
Before long, he landed in the courtyard.
After pushing open the door to his room, Yagami gently placed Mikoto on the bed and covered her with a blanket.
To be honest, when he first went to rescue her, Yagami had been a little nervous.
He had been worried that once he faced Mikoto, he might accidentally reveal something strange and make her notice Kushina's existence.
After all, he still had no idea how he was supposed to explain these relationships to the two of them.
What was he supposed to say?
That he had met his future daughter?
And that the girl had even said both of them were part of his future, so everything was fine?
No.
That would never work.
Yagami was certain that if he said something like that, Kushina would beat him without hesitation.
And yet, for some reason, the moment he appeared beside Mikoto, all those worries were thrown completely out of his mind.
"…Troublesome."
Looking at Mikoto sleeping peacefully, Yagami let out a quiet breath and walked out of the room.
"What!? Sunagakure was defeated!?"
Just as Yagami stepped out of the room, Konoha's battle report had already reached Iwagakure.
Inside the Tsuchikage's office, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, held the intelligence scroll handed over by his subordinate. His face was filled with disbelief.
For a moment, he genuinely wondered if he had misheard.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."
"Furthermore, after defeating Sunagakure, Konoha has already split off part of its forces and sent them to reinforce the front line against us."
"The commander leading them is the greatest contributor to Konoha's victory on the Sunagakure battlefield."
The intelligence ninja knelt on one knee and reported everything truthfully.
He had rushed back from Iwagakure's front line specifically to deliver this information.
"How is that possible…?"
"When did anything this absurd happen in the shinobi world?"
"A war ended in only ten days? What, did Uchiha Madara come back from the dead?"
Even after receiving confirmation, Ōnoki still found it hard to believe.
As for why he mentioned Uchiha Madara instead of Senju Hashirama…
That was because Ōnoki had once been humiliated by Madara himself.
That memory had never left him.
"Tsuchikage-sama, the report is true."
"The enemy has already arrived at the front line and clashed with our forces once."
"Our Iwagakure army has now withdrawn thirty ri from the border of the Land of Fire."
"Han-sama recorded the details of the battle in the intelligence scroll. He instructed that you should read it yourself."
Seeing that Ōnoki still did not believe it, the intelligence ninja spoke again with a grave expression.
After saying that, he pointed to the latest battlefield report in Ōnoki's hand.
"Withdrawn?"
"What are Han and Rōshi doing out there?"
Ōnoki frowned and immediately opened the scroll, quickly scanning its contents.
"What!?"
"Rōshi was captured by Konoha?"
"Six jōnin were killed by that man? Our high-level combat strength on the front line is now insufficient?"
"Who the hell is Yagami? Why have I never heard that name before!?"
After reading part of the scroll, veins bulged on Ōnoki's forehead.
The handwriting and coded marks were indeed from Iwagakure, so the information had not been forged.
Which meant the report was true.
"The enemy commander came from the Sunagakure battlefield."
"Han-sama also said he is the Konoha shinobi who killed Oishi."
The intelligence ninja trembled slightly as he answered the furious Ōnoki.
"Hah… hah…"
"The Konoha shinobi who killed Oishi?"
Ōnoki's breathing grew heavy with anger.
The moment the name Oishi was mentioned, he unconsciously remembered that day.
The day Kitsuchi brought back that pile of mangled flesh.
They said that was all that remained of Oishi after he was cut apart by a Konoha shinobi.
"Yes."
"And, Tsuchikage-sama… you have not finished reading the report."
"Han-sama said the details of their battle are recorded in the later section."
"He also requested that you discuss future countermeasures with Iwagakure's elders and clan heads as soon as possible."
After looking up at Ōnoki, the intelligence ninja quickly lowered his head again.
Hearing that, Ōnoki pulled the scroll open further and continued reading.
Recorded within the report was the full process of Iwagakure's high-level combat forces engaging Yagami.
Ōnoki read every line carefully.
The more he read, the more serious his expression became.
Because the Yagami described in the report was simply too complete as a battlefield monster.
Swordsmanship capable of killing Oishi in a single strike.
Speed that exceeded even a jinchūriki's tailed-beast transformation.
Powerful techniques capable of clashing head-on with Han's Tailed Beast Bomb while he had transformed with four tails.
And large-scale attacks capable of overwhelming entire military formations.
Every piece of information pointed to one thing.
Yagami possessed terrifying strength that could not be measured by ordinary standards.
In particular, his speed and destructive power had been circled in red by Han himself.
That meant Han judged those two aspects to be nearly impossible to counter.
"Summon every elder and clan head in the village immediately."
After realizing the severity of the situation, Ōnoki's expression turned completely solemn as he gave the order.
According to this intelligence, the enemy was someone capable of changing the direction of the entire war.
There was no way he could take this lightly.
"Yes!"
Hearing Ōnoki's order, the intelligence ninja finally let out a quiet breath of relief before withdrawing.
Facing Ōnoki, the leader of Iwagakure and one of the strongest shinobi in the world, placed enormous pressure on him.
That was the presence of a true Kage.
"Hold the line! Don't let them break through!"
While Iwagakure urgently convened a high-level meeting, another battlefield was already engulfed in chaos.
On the front line against Kumogakure, the Cloud shinobi were launching a fierce assault against Konoha's position.
Two days ago, both sides had received news of Sunagakure's defeat.
Because of that, Kumogakure had gone on the offensive with everything they had, trying to break through Konoha's defenses before reinforcements could fully arrive.
However, by the time the information reached this battlefield, a thousand-man reinforcement unit from Konoha had also arrived, greatly strengthening Konoha's side.
At the edge of the battlefield, within the fiercest combat zone, Jiraiya and Minato were facing the Third Raikage, the future Fourth Raikage, and Killer B.
Three against two.
Even so, Jiraiya and Minato were completely on the defensive.
At this point, they could do little more than dodge and endure.
Just then, another Konoha unit rushed in from the rear and joined the battlefield.
It was Orochimaru and the reinforcements who had come all the way from the Sunagakure front.
"Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"
A wave of snakes surged forward like a living tide, rushing straight toward the center of the fiercest battle.
In an instant, the five combatants were forced apart.
The moment Jiraiya saw the sea of snakes, his tired eyes lit up.
As one of the Sannin, he knew that technique all too well.
If that jutsu had appeared here, then there was no doubt about it.
Orochimaru had arrived.
"Heh… Jiraiya. You and your student still alive?"
Orochimaru's hoarse laughter echoed across the battlefield, confirming Jiraiya's thoughts.
With Orochimaru's arrival, Konoha finally had enough Kage-level combat power to balance the battlefield.
"Hah… hah…"
"You're late, Orochimaru."
"The reinforcements from Konoha brought word two days ago that you defeated Sunagakure. What exactly happened over there?"
Jiraiya asked while catching his breath.
Now that Orochimaru had joined the fight, both he and Minato could finally ease up a little.
At the very least, they would no longer be forced into such a passive position.
"Heh… on that battlefield, there was a rather dangerous man."
Orochimaru's lips curled into a thin smile as he looked toward Jiraiya.
But before he could continue, two flashes of lightning tore through the sea of snakes and charged straight toward the three Konoha shinobi.
The conversation was cut off instantly.
The next moment, the fierce battle between three Kage-level warriors on each side erupted once again.
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